MQA is Vaporware

[lucretius]

5 minutes ago, LarryMagoo said:

So I guess that JA does not mind that he has BURNT ALL HIS BRIDGES WITH HIS READERS?????

 

To be fair, he is only burning his bridges with some readers that frequent Audiophile Style,

[StephenJK]

26 minutes ago, LarryMagoo said:

So I guess that JA does not mind that he has BURNT ALL HIS BRIDGES WITH HIS READERS?????

I don't know that I would make such a sweeping comment. 

 

JA and his body of work over a number of decades with publishing of real, verified and documented test data was a breath of fresh air in the HiFi world where others gave glowing reviews for manufacturers who advertised in their publications.  

 

However, I do believe that if JA has HighRes files of tracks that he has recorded with and without MQA encoding that they would be welcome here for all to review.  

 

 

[Ishmael Slapowitz]

6 hours ago, ARQuint said:

Agreed. A waste of time.

As is your presence here.

[John_Atkinson]

7 minutes ago, StephenJK said:

I do believe that if JA has HighRes files of tracks that he has recorded with and without MQA encoding that they would be welcome here for all to review.  

 

As I was a contractor for these recording projects and don't own the copyright, I am not free to share the files.

 

John Atkinson

Technical Editor, Stereophile

 

[Ishmael Slapowitz]

4 hours ago, John_Atkinson said:

 

No. MQA had no involvement in the production of the recordings I have made. After the original release, what they did was prepare MQA-encoded versions for me to compare with the commercially released recordings. They also sent me the MQA and non-MQA files of other recordings that they had sent for comparison to Chris Connacker and other writers.

 

John Atkinson

Technical Editor, Stereophile

But you were one of the small group of anointed team players, er, "influencers" who got files mQa'd. 

 

Seems like a very tiny club.  You originally reported that Master Quack must be "applied at the mastering stage" which clearly was not true.

[Ishmael Slapowitz]

Just now, John_Atkinson said:

 

As I was a contractor for these recording projects and don't own the copyright, I am not free to share the files.

 

John Atkinson

Technical Editor, Stereophile

 

Yes, you do..you can share clips under "Fair Use"..just as Micheal Fremer shares copyrighted music clips on a frequent basis.

 

[Ishmael Slapowitz]

19 minutes ago, lucretius said:

 

To be fair, he is only burning his bridges with some readers that frequent Audiophile Style,

To be fairer...there is a good percentage of older Stereophile readers who only listen to vinyl, and really don't know or care about his embrace of Master Quack.

[LarryMagoo]

10 minutes ago, StephenJK said:

I don't know that I would make such a sweeping comment. 

 

JA and his body of work over a number of decades with publishing of real, verified and documented test data was a breath of fresh air in the HiFi world where other publications gave glowing reviews for manufacturers who advertised in their publications.  

 

However, I do believe that if JA has HighRes files of tracks that he has recorded with and without MQA encoding that they would be welcome here for all to review.  

 

 

Stephen,

 

Sweeping comment?   Well how come JA will not come forth with a CREDIBLE EXPLANATION???   He could save his butt with his readers or FOREVER NOT BE CREDIBLE!!!  He cannot have it both ways....credibility doesn't work like that!

 

 

[StephenJK]

4 minutes ago, John_Atkinson said:

 

As I was a contractor for these recording projects and don't own the copyright, I am not free to share the files.

 

John Atkinson

Technical Editor, Stereophile

 

Fair enough.  Thanks for answering, that does make sense.

[StephenJK]

1 minute ago, LarryMagoo said:

Stephen,

 

Sweeping comment?   Well how come JA will not come forth with a CREDIBLE EXPLANATION???   He could save his butt with his readers or FOREVER NOT BE CREDIBLE!!!  He cannot have it both ways....credibility doesn't work like that!

 

 

Dude.  Take a chill pill, step away from the CapsLock key.  We're just having a conversation here - not looking to storm the castle with our pitchforks to confront the monster.  Right?

[lucretius]

 

From Appendix 4 referenced earlier:  "MQA is not a codec in the conventional sense. It takes account of the source (A/D and mastering) and playback (D/A converter). The conceptual target is analogue to analogue."

So how does this statement reconcile with the mass mQa conversion of Warner's back catalogue?

[StephenJK]

7 minutes ago, Ishmael Slapowitz said:

To be fairer...there is a good percentage of older Stereophile readers who only listen to vinyl, and really don't know or care about his embrace of Master Quack.

I don't know that anyone here would say that "spinning the black circle" is a bad thing!

[lucretius]

6 minutes ago, StephenJK said:

I don't know that anyone here would say that "spinning the black circle" is a bad thing!

https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Pearl-Jam/Spin-The-Black-Circle-2011-Remaster

[LarryMagoo]

Well I would classify myself as an older reader of both Stereophile and TAS.   But I cannot read them if I know the editors are full of crap and that every word they write is disingenuous.....period!    I quit the vinyl religion two decades ago....and yea I had a VPI record cleaner, a hideously expensive TT and cupboards full of MoFi Vinyl.    But digital has come a huge distance in 20 years!  Vinyl is a huge time sync that I don't feel is worth it anymore.  Roon lets me enjoy Music way, way more than I used to with Vinyl. 

[StephenJK]

14 minutes ago, LarryMagoo said:

Well I would classify myself as an older reader of both Stereophile and TAS.   But I cannot read them if I know the editors are full of crap and that every word they write is disingenuous.....period!    I quit the vinyl religion two decades ago....and yea I had a VPI record cleaner, a hideously expensive TT and cupboards full of MoFi Vinyl.    But digital has come a huge distance in 20 years!  Vinyl is a huge time sync that I don't feel is worth it anymore.  Roon lets me enjoy Music way, way more than I used to with Vinyl. 

Larry, there's no right or wrong, it's all about the music.  I also remember the Enid Lumley days, and know who Julian Hirsch is.  

 

Music playback in our homes continues to evolve, whether with licorice pizza or with digital downloads.  It's all about the music, and for some of us trying to make it sound as close as possible to what we hear in concert. 

[StephenJK]

35 minutes ago, lucretius said:

https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Pearl-Jam/Spin-The-Black-Circle-2011-Remaster

Back in the day, I had a full and complete set of original sealed PJ albums up to Backspacer.  I was one of those people who, in the early 90's when it was obvious that LPs were dead didn't get rid of them, but bought more.  

 

Sometimes, with bands like PJ, I would buy two copies - one to play and one to save.

 

When it looked like PJ were going to start to reissue I offered the whole collection up on eBay. 

 

Fittingly, a person in Seattle was successful in winning that.  I always thing of it as the albums going home.......

[Samuel T Cogley]

5 minutes ago, StephenJK said:

I also remember the Enid Lumley days, and know who Julian Hirsch is. 

 

I was a veracious reader of Stereo Review back in the late 70s and early 80s.  I joined the military in 1981, but I remember reading about the Nakamichi Dragon and realizing I could *never* afford it on an enlisted salary.  Then those dudes came back from tours in Okinawa with ......... Nakamichi Dragons!  🤬

 

For those not familiar with what I'm talking about, exchange rates and duty free shopping available to military people serving overseas was insane back then.

[lucretius]

54 minutes ago, John_Atkinson said:

 

As I was a contractor for these recording projects and don't own the copyright, I am not free to share the files.

 

 

49 minutes ago, StephenJK said:

Fair enough.  Thanks for answering, that does make sense.

 

Even if JA could share I'm not sure what that would reveal.  The white glove treatment these recordings received is not representative of a random mQa album found on Tidal.

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, lucretius said:

 

From Appendix 4 referenced earlier:  "MQA is not a codec in the conventional sense. It takes account of the source (A/D and mastering) and playback (D/A converter). The conceptual target is analogue to analogue."

So how does this statement reconcile with the mass mQa conversion of Warner's back catalogue?

 

Of course they don't want to call it a codec because that relegates it to its rightful place next to MP3. 

 

Accounting for source A/D is the biggest joke. It may have happened a couple times for items that they wrote up (for good press) for the white glove process, but give me a break in the real world. Look at how many recordings were done in several studios, with several different converters mixed into the same track. Music is rarely made like it was in the old days of a band in the studio. It's pieced together from many sources now. 

 

Plus, even if they could correct the issues in all the A/D converters, they'd be changing the music to something that wasn't what the artist created in the studio. If the artist heard the "flawed" A/D, they still finalized the music product with that A/D. Changing the product is changing the product, and moving it further from what the artist intended. 

[Ishmael Slapowitz]

4 hours ago, lucretius said:

 

 

Even if JA could share I'm not sure what that would reveal.  The white glove treatment these recordings received is not representative of a random mQa album found on Tidal.

It would reveal a lot..if you had the lossless master file before Master Quack, and the processed file, there are a myriad of comparisons that can be done, both subjective as to how they sound, and technical.

[Ishmael Slapowitz]

5 hours ago, StephenJK said:

Fair enough.  Thanks for answering, that does make sense.

No, it does not hold water. JA could easily upload 60 second clips of the unadulterated master file and the Master Quacked file.

 

It would be no skin of his back.  It is not that he CAN'T, it is he WON'T.

[Racerxnet]

40 minutes ago, Ishmael Slapowitz said:

No, it does not hold water. JA could easily upload 60 second clips of the unadulterated master file and the Master Quacked file.

 

It would be no skin of his back.  It is not that he CAN'T, it is he WON'T.

And that is the reason I asked if he was a special case where the original and Quacked file were given to him. He has the answer, but no balls to be honest about whats going on. 

[MikeyFresh]

14 hours ago, ARQuint said:

suspect that Ken et al anticipated that the seminar would be entirely negative and came prepared to disrupt the presentation.

Why would that be OK? Disrupt an RMAF presentation? You sound as if you think that was clever, justified and well done, none of which are the case. 

 

It wasn't their presentation, though they certainly could have waited until the end and made some comments or questioned whatever they wanted to. But to engage in the level of interruption and unprofessional behavior they did when someone like Jbara is the damn CEO, more is expected of both himself and the band he leads into a public arena that is being captured on video. He couldn't have looked more foolhardy, or done a worse job of representing their brand with that gaggle of jerks.

 

Who the hell do you suggest Ken Forsythe is to "disrupt" an RMAF presentation? Should we for some reason be impressed by his tenure at Meridian, or at HiFi Buys? Lee's buddy?

 

Another pathetic attempt at "clever" revisionist history, I'm amazed at how in each and every post you make here you seem to fancy yourself about the most clever guy around. You've only deluded yourself though, no one else is impressed at all with these periodic ARQ summations, your credibility long ago shot.

[lucretius]

1 hour ago, Ishmael Slapowitz said:

It would reveal a lot..if you had the lossless master file before Master Quack, and the processed file, there are a myriad of comparisons that can be done, both subjective as to how they sound, and technical.

But it still not representative of what one finds on Tidal, so what does it really matter? And what mQa processes would be evaluated?  What would it tell us about the sausage maker that Warner's back catalogue is put through or the mQa processes available to studios?

[KeenObserver]

All the new activity.

The carnival barkers are out.

Somethings coming.